Tag: film camera

My rangefinder obsession continues undiminished. My Minolta Hi-Matic 7s is one I’ve had for quite a while but I just got around to putting a roll through it. I chose Ilford Delta 400 Professional black and white negative film, my first time shooting with it. First time camera with first time film produced some interesting results.

The Hi-Matic 7s was produced in 1966 as a replacement to the Hi-Matic 7. The only real difference was the addition of a hot shoe. It has a Rokkor 45mm f/1.8 lens that stops down to f/22. Shutter speeds go from bulb up to 1/500th of a second, not the fastest but that’s not really what this camera is about. The meter in my example doesn’t work so I shot everything using the “Sunny Sixteen” rule with varying success.

The Rokkor glass is very sexy. Great contrast, sharp in the center only falling off a bit wide open. The viewfinder patch and frame lines are bright and the finders parallax correction is decent from 6 feet to infinity. Closer than 6 feet is a bit off, something that I’ll be able to anticipate on my next roll. The film advance lever has the longest throw I’ve ever come across which takes some time to master. it’s easy enough to operate but it’s hard to move though a single frame in one motion.

It’s a bit of a brick. Heavy, not super portable, but still smaller than SLR’s of a similar vintage. I picked mine up on Ebay from a vintage camera seller in Japan. Other than the meter it’s perfect and I got it for $50 including shipping. I did manage to shoot some nice shots of the inside of my lens caps too as rangefinders don’t look though the lens like an SLR. I’m sure it won’t be the last time.

Film is not dead! Don’t let your old cameras collect dust in the attic. Go get them, clean them up, get some film, and create art!